"Surely, my Lord, you'll not disdain our humble fare. 'Tis prime meat, taken from a herd of horned cattle."
A Day to Remember (1953)
In the 1953 comedy-drama, A Day to Remember (1953), Joan Rice played Vera Mitchell in an incredible, character-driven ensemble of British acting royalty on a chaotic darts-team trip to France. The film featured iconic comedic force Stanley Holloway and the beloved Donald Sinden, alongside Bill Owen and James Hayter, who both reunited with Joan from her Disney Robin Hood days. The production even featured a very young, uncredited Shirley Eaton as a passenger on a cross-channel ferry, long before she achieved global fame as the tragic, gold-painted Bond girl in Goldfinger. However, this British ensemble piece also marked a pivotal turning point, shifting Joan's career from Hollywood-backed blockbusters to regional features and signalling that her post-Disney momentum was beginning to stall.
Despite the massive global footprint of her early 1950s success, the film industry rapidly lost interest in Joan upon her return to England, and by 1955 her contract with the Rank Organisation was not renewed. She was increasingly relegated to functional roles in lower-budget features like Police Dog (1955) and Women Without Men (1956), before her big-screen appearances slowed to a crawl with Operation Bullshine (1959) and Payroll (1961). She effectively stepped away from cinema for nearly a decade, returning only once for a final, minor horror cameo as a graverobber's wife in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970).
Joan Rice at the World Premiere
The world premiere of Walt Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men took place at London’s Leicester Square Theatre on 13 March 1952. The occasion was a spectacular, flower-decked celebration, with linkmen dressed as Sherwood Foresters and usherettes as Maid Marions. Joan Rice, who played Maid Marian, arrived by limousine wearing a specially designed gown featuring a tulle skirt decorated with Robin Hood motifs and a velvet bodice in traditional Lincoln Green. The BBC television crew filmed the festivities for broadcast the following evening.
Among the distinguished guests were the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Nottingham, who presented Joan Rice with a gift, as well as the Mayor of Westminster and the ‘real’ Sheriff of Nottingham, who met Peter Finch, the actor portraying him in the film. Other celebrities attending included Claudette Colbert, Donald Peers, Petula Clark, Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle. The premiere attracted hundreds of onlookers, while television newsreel cameras captured the memorable occasion.
Robin Hood God of the Witches
In The God of the Witches (1931), Dr Margaret Murray proposed a remarkable theory: Robin Hood was not simply a legendary outlaw, but the leader of an ancient pagan witch-cult surviving beneath Christian society. Reinterpreting the horned or hooded “Devil” of witch-trial testimony as a human cult leader, she viewed Robin Hood as a remnant of a pre-Christian fertility religion.
Decades later, this potent blend of folklore and esoteric paganism found its ultimate creative expression when Richard 'Kip' Carpenter introduced echoes of paganism and mysticism into his hugely popular 1980s TV series Robin of Sherwood, transforming the outlaw into a chosen warrior of a nature deity.
Murray connected Robin Hood with supernatural figures like Robin Goodfellow and Robin Artisson, suggesting the name “Robin” linked them to a wider cult. She also interpreted his band of twelve men, green clothing, and association with May Day festivities as evidence of a witches’ coven and nature worship. Even Robin’s traditional death by bleeding was viewed as an echo of ritual sacrifice.
While medieval seasonal celebrations often incorporated elements of older traditions, the appearance of Robin Hood within these festivities does not establish that he originated as a pagan deity. A popular folk hero could easily have been absorbed into existing customs. Furthermore, historical chronology makes Murray’s case difficult to sustain. The earliest literary reference to Robin Hood appears around 1377 in William Langland’s Piers Plowman, and the main surviving ballads date from the fifteenth century onward. This late, literary evidence points to an evolving folklore tradition rather than a stable record of an ancient cult.
Murray's theory also relies on fragile parallels. The name Robin was common, the size of the outlaw band varied across sources, and witch-trial testimony is notoriously unreliable, having been shaped by coercion and theological interrogation. A critical distinction separates the survival of individual folk customs from the survival of an organised, underground religion: the former is entirely plausible, while the latter lacks evidence.
Nevertheless, Murray’s theory remains an intriguing example of how folklore can inspire sweeping interpretations of the past. Kip Carpenter tapped into this imaginative power for Robin of Sherwood. By introducing Herne the Hunter—the horned spirit of the forest—as Robin’s spiritual mentor, Carpenter directly dramatised Murray's conceptual link between the outlaw and pre-Christian beliefs.
Ultimately, Robin Hood as the head of an ancient witch-cult remains an extraordinary theory rather than an established historical fact. However, while Murray's thesis failed as history, it succeeded as a creative catalyst, providing the foundational mystique that allowed 20th-century storytellers like Carpenter to brilliantly reinvent the legend for a modern audience.
Joan Rice & The Soviet Athlete
Taken in Brighton, Sussex, on 30 August 1956, this photograph shows Joan Rice (1930-1999) jogging with Soviet athlete Igor Ilyin at Withdean Sports Arena. Joan visited the track to meet the Soviet international athletics team, who were in Britain ahead of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. During their stay, the athletes attended a civic lunch hosted by Brighton’s deputy mayor and toured the seaside resort. Issued by United Press, the photograph captured a moment of sporting goodwill amid Cold War tensions between Britain and the Soviet Union.
Robin Hood Books
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Proof of what happens when a legendary story and a great film completely consume you...
Behind the Scenes
A look behind the scenes of this black-and-white still shows expert archers James Hemmings and George Brown firing the arrows. They were hired by Second Unit Director Alex Bryce, the man responsible for the film's thrilling outdoor action. In the photo, Bryce sits near the camera crew with producer Perce Pearce. The production team built a realistic riverbank set along the River Colne right on the Denham Studios lot, perfectly framing the flowing water behind star Richard Todd. Captured in mid-summer 1951, this meticulous setup translated into a stunning colour shot on the big screen.
Joan Rice in Curtain Up
Joan Rice was discovered while working as a waitress at a London Lyons Corner House and subsequently trained at the Rank Organisation’s renowned “charm school.” Her career reached its pinnacle when Walt Disney personally selected her to portray the spirited Maid Marian in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men. Her captivating performance earned widespread critical praise and firmly established her as a rising star.
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| Michael Medwin and Joan Rice |
Filming on The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men concluded in August 1951. Joan then moved on to the low-budget comedy Curtain Up, filmed at Isleworth Studios during the autumn of 1951. She played Avis, a timid young girl who quickly realises that acting is not for her, in a chaotic repertory theatre company alongside comedy luminaries Margaret Rutherford and Robert Morley.
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| Michael Medwin and Joan Rice |
The two films reached British cinemas in the spring of 1952, with The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men released first on 13 March, showcasing Rice in her prominent leading role as Maid Marian. Curtain Up followed on 12 May 1952, giving audiences an opportunity to see her in a contrasting supporting role. Released less than two months apart, the films captured Rice at the height of her popularity, although securing further leading roles in major productions would become increasingly difficult as the decade progressed.
Gold Key Robin Hood
This is a Gold Key comic based on the Disney live-action film and was published in 1965 (originally printed as Dell 4 Colour in 1952) by K.K. Publications, Inc., Poughkeepsie, New York, in cooperation with Golden Press, Inc. Western Printing and Lithographing Company designed, produced, and printed it in the U.S.A. I own the third printing 10163-506. The illustrations are good, and the comic mainly follows the original screenplay, although Alan a Dale (pictured on the back cover) and Little John (illustrated on the front cover) do not appear in the comic strip.
The cover has a full colour picture of Richard Todd as Robin Hood and on the inside cover are some small, black and white photos of Joan Rice as Maid Marian, Peter Finch as the Sheriff of Nottingham, James Robertson Justice as Little John, Hubert Gregg as Prince John and Patrick Barr as Richard the Lionheart.
Also on the inside cover is an introduction to the story:
"During the reign of Richard the Lionheart, a great crusade was fought in the Holy Land. While Richard strove against the Saracens, his brother, Prince John, ruled in his place.
Prince John had neither the kindness nor the fighting spirit with which Richard ruled the land. The usurper trampled on the rights of the simple people. Ever jealous of his great brother, grasping after gold and power, Prince John ruled with a mailed fist... always plotting against his brother’s hoped-for return to England and the Throne.
But when his tax collectors and game wardens entered Sherwood Forest, they encountered the Merry Men and their famous leader, Robin Hood. Then, as never before, did Prince John begin to doubt he would ever be the King."
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